(The Center Square) – As immigrants continue to come to Illinois, officials are trying to come up with solutions to house them.
In all, more than 11,000 people, most of them from Central and South America, have arrived in Illinois since August of last year.
Recently, multifamily housing owners and managers held a roundtable on how to address the state’s migration situation.
Michael Glasser, president of the Neighborhood Building Owner’s Alliance, said the focus was on how the multifamily community and the private sector best work with the city of Chicago to help provide the migrants with housing and jobs.
“How can people who have apartments that they want to offer reach qualified migrants to these units, and what are conditions and terms, what are the risks of doing it and what are the benefits of doing it,” said Glasser.
A possible way to address the immigrant crisis and housing issues is to put them to work in the housing industry, he said.
Some are concerned the wave of immigrants will drive up rent prices. Paul Arena, director of Legislative Affairs for the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association, said Illinois is not landlord-friendly, so fewer are remaining in the industry.
“The state legislates us like they’re angry at us, like we’re a constant problem and a nuisance, so there is little regard given in the state legislature for the point of view of the small housing provider,” said Arena to The Center Square.
Illinois landlords will soon be required to rent or sell property to migrants. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation into law which added immigration status as a protected class under the state’s Human Rights Act.
